- Musical group Devo (yes, apparently, they still exist) is suing McDonald's for making Happy Meal dolls in the band's likeness.

- Wanna hop on the "engagement" bus and whip out some cool "engagement" figures during your next client presentation? Then check out Starch's new engagement index, a buzzword-worthy combination of the organization's "noticed" and "read half/some" metrics.

- As only George Parker can, Yahoo's recent re-organization is characterized akin to the way Queen Victoria characterized the inevitability of rape.

- AgencySpy reports, "AS just got another tip that "at least 2 ECDs and a bunch of lower level creatives have gotten the axe today" at Doner. This can't possibly have anything to do with Minute Maid. No, you think? That was quick."

Way better than those crap Western Career College ads (whose only legacy is this drunk guy). And if you find it tough to take degree recommendations from a guy in a diner uniform, sit tight: he changes clothes.

More creative here. One tagline we liked: "Go from making a living to MAKING A LIFE." Smooooth.

Oh for fuck's sake! Are you kidding me? "That's why we do more than just connect calls. We believe in connecting people." Seriously? Well, U.S. Cellular, if you are so great at connecting people and making the world a perfectly happy, feel-good place, why don't you dial up Osama Bin Laden, Kim Jong-il, Omar Al-Bashir, Pervez Musharraf, Than Shwe and the rest of the world's dictatorial idiots, feed them some of your feel-good crap and see if you can, in fact, help the world become a better place. That, at least, would be worthy of producing these sixty seconds of sugar-coated puffery.

Loving the "Maestro" spot for HP's TouchSmart PC. It's a striking but natural development from the more casual "Hands" campaign. And it would have been absolutely perfect if a few origami airplanes self-replicated and staged a mutiny.

Following the questionably-real video of a guy back flipping into a pair of Levi's, a new, definitely not real video has a guy with his pants filled with helium float off into the air. OK. A.) Ever try to see how many helium-filled balloons you'd need to get yoursself off the ground? Exactly, you gave up after 100 which wouldn't even launch your dog. B.) Curiously, the guys is always floating in the same position...as if hung buy a wire that was later digitally removed. Not at all like the people you see floating around in space or on dive planes.

OK, it's fun but this is just dumb. Some poor low IQ idiot is going to try this at home and kill themselves thinking they can jump off their roof with a bit of helium in their pants. Law suits will ensue. Levi's will apologize. And American stupidity will continue to reign supreme.

There's been a lot of talk about David Beckham's package and all those ginormous billboards on which it is displayed. Well now, as we mentioned back in May, Beckham has put all his clothes back on and is sparring with people over Sharpie pens he covets in a new commercial breaking July 7.

In the commercial, created by BrandBuzz New York, Beckham is asked to autograph several items and, after signing his name, covets the Sharpie he used to do so. Along with a cute street fight with a little girl, Becjham also steals a Sharpie from a woman at a gas station but he can't fool her. So, he gives the woman his shirt, autographs it and makes off with the Sharpie of his dreams.

While it's understandable the people asking for autographs would have some increased affinity for Beckham but for Beckham to have that sort of affinity for a...pen, well, oh wait...this is a commercial, not real life. Oops, sorry. Unrealistic things happen in commercial all the time. Totally normal. All good.

- Hmm. If you wished you could market your vodka brand with futuristic female robots but were saddened to realize a competing brand already does that, there's always the phallic route with cherries standing in for balls sucked by women with big red lips.

Come on. You know you can remember it. You were in high school and your boyfriend or girlfriend was on the way over to visit and the anticipation was killing you. Killing you! Your heart was pounding. Chills were running through your body from head to toe. You couldn't wait to see her/him when you opened the door. And when you did, a gush of warmth filled your body and you smiled a big smile. And then...you couldn't wait to tell your mother you were "just going down to the basement to watch some TV" so you could....go down the basement, each tear your clothes off the other and embrace with an urgency words can never describe.

Gotta love the UK. This Sure Girl deodorant spot was banned because it depicted girls dancing in a van without seatbelts on.

Parent company Unilever: "The van was stationary!"

The Ad Standards Authority: "We don't give a damn!"

But seatbelts aside, there are so many better reasons to ban it:

o The lack of a driver.
o Gratuitous use of Don't Cha and pigtails at the same time. McConnells Advertising, why?!
o All that sordid peer pressure. "The fun stops when the sweat starts!" You'd think Girl 1 and Girl 3 never had gigantor 'pit puddles before.
o Use of disembodied arms to apply deodorant spray. That scene merited a big hearty "WTF!"

Liverpudlians adopt fragments of Spanish culture in "Turning Spanish," created for Nike by 72andSunny.

They won't be reading any Don Quixote, though.

The spot aspires to cash in on the emotional cachet of Fernando Torres. He's the English Premier League's current It Guy. And while I guess it's funny to hear some 'Pud go "Gracias, mate!", the whole thing felt like a really long "Sorry ... you had to be there"-type story.